Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss against Sunrisers Hyderabad and elected to bowl first at a venue where the outfield and wicket look ready for big hitting. Iyer said the strip has been showing hardly any grass, a factor that could play into how the ball grips as the innings progresses.
Quick facts
- Match toss: Punjab Kings chose to bowl vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
- Punjab Kings captain: Shreyas Iyer
- Punjab Kings bowling-first XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
- PBKS Impact Player options: Priyansh Arya, Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett, Musheer Khan, Vishnu Vinod
- Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, R Smaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain
- SRH Impact Player options: Aniket Verma, Praful Hinge, Liam Livingstone, Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey
PBKS made a couple of notable changes. Shashank Singh comes in after making a difference with the ball in the last meeting between the two sides, replacing the out-of-form Nehal Wadhera. Lockie Ferguson also returns in place of Xavier Bartlett.
Priyansh Arya was not included in PBKS’ bowling-first lineup, but he is expected to be available as an Impact Player if the captain wants to alter the balance mid-match.
“The surface looks beautiful. There hasn’t been a single piece of grass since the time I have seen it,” Iyer said as he explained the decision to bowl first.
SRH response and team changes
SRH captain Pat Cummins was not reading too much into the toss outcome. He pointed out that pitches in this format often end up being run-friendly, saying he can’t really decipher them and that they all appear high scoring. SRH also shuffled one spot, bringing in a fit-again Nitish Kumar Reddy for Aniket Verma.
For their Impact Player, SRH have a left-arm spin option in Harsh Dubey or they can go with a seamer depending on how the pitch is behaving once the match gets underway.
Both teams arrive under contrasting momentum. Punjab Kings are looking to recover after two consecutive defeats, having started the season with seven games where they remained unbeaten. Sunrisers Hyderabad, meanwhile, are coming off a loss to Kolkata Knight Riders, but they followed that setback with a run of five straight wins.
The most recent clash between these sides was nearly a month ago in New Chandigarh. In that encounter, PBKS chased down 220 in 18.5 overs, with fifties from Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer setting the chase up.
With tonight’s game in focus, the standings could swing quickly. A PBKS victory would keep them at the top for longer, tightening their route towards the playoffs. An SRH win would push PBKS off the summit and hand Hyderabad the leading position.
